Gun debate sparks many questions

By KAREN PARKER

County Line Publisher Emerita

I have been thinking about guns a lot lately. When I was growing up in Green County, Wis. (yes, that was around the time of the Civil War), there were few if any deer. Those with a hankering for venison traveled to northern Wisconsin. My father preferred fishing to hunting, but we always had a couple of guns around the house. In his younger days, he shot small game, but mostly the guns were available for varmints that threatened either the household or the livestock. 

Once we moved to town, they were relegated to hooks on a beam in the basement. It was illegal to discharge a gun in town, and woe to the invading rabbit or squirrel who soon found himself in a trap, his bags packed, and headed on a vacation to the nearest woods. 

To me and I suspect to almost everyone at that time, guns were just another household tool like a spatula or a drill. Like any other Swiss/German community, there were sharpshooting contests and marksman clubs, but if the adults ever spoke of Second Amendment rights, I missed it. And I had big ears.

Fast forward to our arrival in Ontario 46 years ago. Guns were far more prevalent here. Deer season was a festival like July 4, and many in the area depended on being able to stock the freezer with venison. Robinson Hardware in Ontario was a hotbed of activity, and many hours were spent bargaining and trading with owner Jack Robinson. He wasn’t a hunter but a knowledgeable gun collector. 

Again, I suspect there was little if any discussion about Second Amendment rights; instead, the finer points of each gun and long hunting stories dominated the discussion.

The very first issue of this newspaper came out in November 1983, the week before deer season. The front-page photo was of two young men sighting in their rifles from the roof of their car, something I found later was illegal. Whoops.

Quite frankly, my loyalties have always been with the deer, but newspapers are (or were) expected to know their market. And in this market, locals are hunters.

You either hunted or you didn’t. You were a gun owner, or you were not. Could any of us see the day when guns would become a major controversy with opinions divided along political lines? 

My youngest was just finishing her career at Brookwood when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado. Since then, “Columbine” has become synonymous with school shootings.

Mostly we thought it was terrible but was a one-off incident. Ha! Since those days, 199 students have been murdered, not to mention the number wounded or the ones who suffer from permanent PTSD. 

No one rushed to barricade the doors at Brookwood, but over time, things changed. Where once I wandered in at will, all pedestrian traffic was routed through one door.  Each guest was expected to wear identification, although I think I defied that one. I could no longer wander in and of classrooms with impunity, and public events often had a police officer or officers in attendance. Tornado and fire drills morphed into active shooter drills.

We now have a whole generation of parents who believe this is all part of normal school life. Once kids’ biggest worry was if they would be invited to a birthday party or make it through the spelling bee; now, they ask if they will be murdered in their classrooms. What would I tell my kids?

How would I explain that some members of our legislature want to arm teachers? If I have a choice of staff for my child, can I pick the teacher who scores best on the rifle range?

We can’t find teachers now. Imagine when they are asked to be law enforcement? If armed officers fail to stop a killer, why do we think teachers can do it? 

Is it possible that stricter gun laws and a ban on military assault rifles would never happen until those heated defenders of the Second Amendment are forced to join the First Responders and the coroner as they try to reassemble the shredded children, children so ripped to pieces that they must compare DNA with that of the parents to identify their mutilated bodies?

So many questions. Just asking. 

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